The deaf community in Kenya, like in many other countries, faces significant challenges interacting with the criminal justice system. These challenges stem from communication barriers, lack of awareness and understanding, and limited accessibility to legal services. Here are some issues related to the deaf community and the criminal justice system in Kenya.

Sign Language and the Deaf Community in Kenya

Kenyan Sign Language (KSL) is the language of the deaf community in Kenya. There are some dialect differences between the KSL in eastern and western Kenya. The Kenyan Constitution recognized KSL in 2010, thanks to advocacy efforts. 

According to the Kenyan National Deaf Association, deaf people are 5.5% of the population. Even though there are many deaf people in Kenya, language accessibility is a problem, especially in the justice system. 

Legal rights for the deaf

Legal rights are human rights. Without this set of rules to protect individuals, higher powers can abuse “ordinary people.” The caveat is even if a country has a system of human rights. There is always that 10% chance that the government abuses people regardless. Legal rights give an individual the right to speak out against such abuses. Unfortunately, this is a mere luxury for the Kenyan deaf community.

Although Kenya ratified the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 2008, the barrier between deaf people and the justice system exists. It comes down to the lack of qualified KSL interpreters to assist deaf people in the courts or police stations. This is namely the reason that deaf Kenyan’s have such a difficult time accessing basic things.

The Justice System in Kenya

As a former British Colony, British Common Law was the first legal system introduced to Kenya. Since 1933, the justice system has had a mixture of Colonial Law, remnants of colonization, and new laws from when Kenya gained independence from Britain. There are also legal actions at the more local level, with the chiefs governing the local villages.

Communication Barriers

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The barrier starts with the absence of legal language. If the government fails to use KSL in government buildings, it fails to acknowledge an entire community. Without language, it denies the human right to communicate, which allows individuals to live autonomously in society. 

Interpreters

Resources available for deaf people are the underlying issue for the deaf community to have equality. While the lack of Sign Language in everyday life will make things challenging, there are ways around it. It’s similar to going to a country where you don’t speak the language. There will always be someone who can help alleviate the miscommunication. 

Interpreters are hard to come by in Kenya. Thanks to a lack of awareness of the struggles of the deaf community. Many people don’t understand KSL, even down to the regional dialects. The training programs that should be available are either weak or non-existent.

In 2000, the Peace Corps went to Kenya to establish the Kenyan Sign Language Interpreters Association. They trained 20 interpreters to improve the situation and status of the deaf community. The objective of the Peace Corps was to bring awareness to the deaf community in cooperation with the government, create new jobs as interpreters for sign language, and raise funds for deaf organizations.

Awareness of the Deaf Community

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The general awareness of the deaf community and their needs in Kenya is rather bleak. Grassroots and other community-based organizations fight hard to promote advocacy for this marginalized part of the population. Legal cases are different for deaf people. According to the Southern African Litigation Center, courts and police stations don’t have to document an individual’s disability. 

The case studies also revealed improper regulations of the legal process after the arrest. It’s a formality that most people have the right to, but deaf people’s cases are often discarded. Therefore, they don’t even get a chance at due process of the law. 

There’s also an aspect where law enforcement and the courts understand people with disabilities or deafness. They can’t differentiate between bad behavior and more challenging behavior. There have been instances where the police arrested a deaf person. They might exhibit fearfulness. In return, that person will receive aggressive behavior from the police. The lack of understanding of these behaviors by the police officer creates a lot of issues during arrests or if the case makes it to the court. The police officer isn’t trained to comprehend these issues, so they can’t provide reasonable accommodations protected by the law. 

The communication barrier is also in the courtroom. A deaf person might misunderstand the severity of their punishment. In this case, they may plead guilty to something they didn’t do. Even in custody, before they appear in court, legal protections are inaccessible due to the barriers of being deaf. 

Accessible Legal Services

The deaf community in Kenya often doesn’t have a voice. But there is an added layer to being marginalized for deafness. There is also an ethnic battle in Kenya, specifically in Mandera County, where Ethiopia and Somalia border Kenya. There is a community of ethnic Somalians who face discrimination. They are voiceless because sign language is uncommon. 

People in the deaf community, especially the younger generation, face cultural issues. It ranges from the inaccessibility of education, child marriages, especially for girls, and the complex clan culture of this region. It’s a unique challenge, but someone has to take it on. The United Nations Development Programme, in cooperation with Nomadic Assistance for Peace and Development (NAPAD), created a training program for paralegals. Aimed at improving the situation in Mandera. Bashir Diriye, the Field Officer for NAPAD, realized the neglect and abuse that the deaf community faced in courts, police stations, and other law establishments. 

As of 2016, the program trained, the program trained six paralegals to interpret for the deaf community in Mandera. It also established another grassroots legal service aid center in Neboi, a town in the county. The program also developed braille information on legal aid, radio shows to sensitize the local population, and training elders on human rights-based approaches vs. traditional solutions. 

Another service, Mobility International USA is an organization that works with the Kenyan National Association of the Deaf. They are drafting a new act for the deaf community in Kenya. This new law would establish the use of KSL in courts and emphasize properly training interpreters to work in the legal system. How does this help the deaf community? Well, it gives them access to participate in the legal system. 

The intersection of the deaf community and the legal system in Kenya presents complex issues that need reform. The challenges faced by deaf people within the system are communication barriers, discrimination, and limited access to legal resources. These violate their rights to justice and equality.

Learn more about deaf people in the eyes of the justice system by checking out other blog posts at  https://www.unspokenasl.com/

Photo Credit to: Photo by Antony Trivet